National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024

Submission 201

12 July 2024

I am deeply concerned about the “Getting The NDIS Back On Track” Bill.

I have cerebral palsy. The NDIS has transformed my life in so many ways. But finding providers with CP expertise among adults is rare. There is only one CP-specific provider in NSW. Therefore, I use a number of allied health providers and businesses to meet my goals.

As a self-managed participant, currently I am able to choose allied health professionals and businesses who are not registered NDIS providers to help me achieve my goals and live a good life.

These providers are local and easily accessible to me. I trust them and have worked with them for many years (in some cases, for more than a decade) because I see results.

I am afraid that under the new NDIS Bill, my choice to use these providers will be taken away due to mandatory registration.

NDIS registration is costly, time consuming and complex. My private allied health providers tell me they don’t have the caseload to justify the difficulty and expense of NDIS registration.

But they are:

• experts in their field (e.g. physiotherapy, exercise physiology, podiatry); and
• mainstream businesses (e.g. cleaning, shoe repair, bike repair) who offer quality and value for money but would never register for NDIS.

Registered NDIS providers typically charge the top of the price guide for their expertise. But non-registered providers also deliver outstanding services that are effective, beneficial and value for money.

For example, I am able to go to my local shoe maker to fix the monthly wear on my shoes, who always gives me a discount and does an outstanding job.

Or my exercise physiologist at my local gym, who has designed a custom program for me to suit my disability that he updates often multiple times per week, and charges well below NDIS rates.

Or my physio, who always gives me extended sessions for no extra cost when I need them, this week helped me plan a trip away, ensuring I had chosen the most accessible location to stay.

Or the bike repair shop who fixes my motorised trike immediately when I have a problem, and often only bills me for parts not the labour when it is a small job.

Mandatory registration will force these allied health providers (and mainstream services of any kind) to close their books to me. I will have limited choice, and will have to attend services further away, adding unnecessary travel costs and time off work.

Innovation, creativity, value for money, and freedom of choice are under threat by this proposed Bill. And it won’t change the behaviour of so called “dodgy providers” and the “wedding tax”.

I am also worried about the impact of one size fits all mandatory assessments by a government assessor who does not know me.

No one understands my disability and how it affects me better than my team.

Under this Bill, a government assessment by someone who does not know me would be used to create a ‘reasonable and necessary’ budget to determine my funding and support needs. I see lots of room for error with this approach. More than that, I am afraid.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDI Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024

Submission 201

I am afraid this Bill will take away my ability to seek justice for unfair decisions made by NDIA and government assessors (e.g. If the assessment is inaccurate, or the supports I am offered are not right.)

Several years ago, I successfully appealed to the AAT when funding for my previously approved NDIS supports was arbitrarily cut.

My appeal took almost a year and was one of the most stressful times of my life. But I was happy I got a fair and just outcome in the end.

The AAT and NDIA lawyers conceded that the NDIA’s previous decision was wrong, and that my supports (which had not changed) were still reasonable and necessary.

I understand that mistakes can happen. But under this proposed Bill, people with disability will be powerless to seek help when they do.

Thanks to the NDIS I am doing things now that I never would have imagined. I am more active, more mobile, spend more time outside, move with less pain, and have more support and independence. This Bill will not help my life “get back on track”, I am genuinely fearful it will derail it.

At an ideological level, a focus on ‘reasonable and necessary budgets’ rather than ‘supports’ seems dehumanising and at odds with what the NDI should be about: people.

Please listen to people with disability and reject this Bill.

Sincerely

Finn O’Keefe